Papist Picture of the Day - 5/8/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

Ecumenical talks took a turn for the worst as Pope and Patriarch

competed to see who would get to bat first.

[source: Osservatore Romano/Reuters]

AmP Topics

Recent Topics:

• Commentary: If Liberal Catholicism is Dead, then the Youth Killed It
• Noted: The Pope's Visit: Satirical and Serious
• Update: Developments on Lugo: contrite or obstinant?
• Humor: Photo Caption Call
• Video: Call to Action's Closing Liturgy
• Dialogue: Rome to Anglicans: Decide if you are Protestants or Catholics
• Video: Cardinal Pell talks WYD and Text Messaging from the Pope
• Humor: Papist Picture of the Day
• Politics: North Carolina & Indiana
• Commentary: A maybe minor point regarding communion, jurisdiction, and bishops
• Noted: Prayers requested for the disaster in Myanmar
• AmP: Busy Blogger This Week
• AmP Movie Review: Iron Man

Archive:

• AmP's Complete Coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the USA

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Commentary: If Liberal Catholicism is Dead, then the Youth Killed It

Last weekend, David Van Biema posed the question "Is Liberal Catholicism Dead?". It's a very interesting essay, and has already received much comment, but I think there is a major flaw in his account of where things stand that I'd like to point out.

Bear with me as this will require a few lengthy quotations from his article. Don't worry, it's all on topic....

To begin, Biema claims that the trend towards liberalism started with the youth:

Vatican II meant even more to a generation of devout but restless young people in the U.S. Rather than a course correction, Terrence Tilley, now head of the Fordham University's theology department, wrote recently, his generation perceived "an interruption of history, a divine typhoon that left only the keel and structure of the church unchanged."

They discerned in the Council a call to greater church democracy, and an assertion of individual conscience that could stand up to the authority of even the Pope. So, they battled the Vatican's birth-control ban, its rejection of female priests and insistence on celibacy, and its authoritarianism.

One could dispute his historical claim, but let's move on for the moment with what he says (underlining mine):

To some extent, liberal Catholicism has been a victim of its own success. Its positions on sex and gender issues have become commonplace in the American Church, diminishing the distinctiveness of the progressives. More importantly, they failed to transform the main body of the Church: John Paul II, a charismatic conservative, enjoyed the third-longest papacy in church history, and refused to budge on the left's demands; instead, he eventually swept away liberal bishops. The heads at Call to Action grayed, and by the late 1990s, Vatican II progressivism began to look like a self-limited Boomer moment.

I would argue that what the liberals most faileded to transform was the next generation of the youth - the "JP2 generation" which followed the pope that Biema mentions. And not only did the heads at Call to Action gray, at the same time no young heads of hair were to be seen interning in the cubicles.

But my point gains more force as Biema unfolds his vision of the future:

The familiar progressives-versus-Vatican paradigm seems almost certain to be undone by a looming demographic tsunami. Almost everyone agrees that the "millennial generation," born in 1980 or later, while sharing liberal views on many issues, has no desire to mount the barricades.

Notes Reese, "Younger Catholics don't argue with the bishops; they simply do what they want or shop for another church." And Hispanic Catholics, who may be the U.S. majority by 2020, don't see this as their battle. "I'm sure they're happy that the celebration of the Eucharist is in the vernacular," says Tilley, "but they don't have significant issues connected to Vatican II."

Reese makes his point negatively, but I think it is more accurate to say that many young Catholics simply "agree with the bishops." It's not an issue of "not disagreeing with the bishops", as Reese claims. Young Catholics are active and passionate, and when they stay in the Church, they stay because they want to, because certainly they must resist a great deal of external pressure nowadays if they do.

Now here's the clincher (again, underlining mine):

And so, unless Benedict contradicts in Rome what he said in New York, the Church may have reached a tipping point. This is not to say that the (overhyped) young Catholic Right will swing into lay dominance. Nor will liberal single-issue groups simply evaporate. But if they cohere again, it will be around different defining issues.

"It's a new ball game," admits Steinfels. As Tilley wrote recently in Commonweal regarding his fellow theologians, "A new generation has neither the baggage nor the ballast of mine. Theirs is the future. Let's hope they remember the Council as the most important event in twentieth-century Catholicism."

That underlined sentence is what got me to write this post. Why, exactly, does Biema feel the need to claim that the young Catholic Right is "overhyped", I wondered? Frankly, I think it's underhyped.

I mean, how many times have you heard the mainstream presses clamoring about the young Catholic Right? Even once before the pope arrived, and a couple times (amidst thousands of headlines) when he was here? How can Biema predict that the young Catholic Right won't swing into lay dominance (whatever that means, exactly) when he has just noted, as we recall, the greying heads of Call to Action and the fact that Young Catholics who have stayed in the Church don't argue with bishops (again, I prefer to say: "agree with bishops")?

Biema, normally full of explanations, gives no reasons to support this hypothesis.

Instead, the ending quote admits that "it's a new ballgame" and that "[ours] is the future."

I think behind Biema's mistake is an underlying assumption that the only way for lay people to build up the Church is to resist the authority of the bishops and pope. However, the goal is not to "liberalize" the Church, but instead to perfect her, and that can be best done through following the authentic teaching and leadership of the bishops united with the pope. Liberals thought perfecting the Church meant one thing, and the young Catholic Right apparently think differently.

To make my main point once again: the youth are not ignorant and lazy if they are in the Church. They do remember the importance of Vatican Two, and they've learned from the mistakes of those who took it upon themselves to implement it their own ways.

And if they don't know about the Council itself, they have grown up suffering its effects. At the same time, however, they've discovered something else, something deeper, and something that keeps them coming back to Mass on Sundays. Not all of them, but enough to make a start. And they're having babies or becoming priests.

So, in other words, the future is bright, even if it's underhyped. Just give it a chance and some time.

As a postscript, I thought this news story today about a beatification cause being opened for a 21 year-old Spanish martyr was very much applicable to what I'm talking about. His dying words:

“I want nothing of this world. I belong to God and I live for God. If I die I will be totally God’s in heaven, and if I don’t die, I want to be a priest. We need saints!”

Now that doesn't need any hype.

Hide Baptism Records from Mormons, says Vatican

Because aiding kooky practices doesn't help ecumenism:

In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.

An April 5 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, obtained by Catholic News Service in late April, asks episcopal conferences to direct all bishops to keep the Latter-day Saints from microfilming and digitizing information contained in those registers.

The order came in light of "grave reservations" expressed in a Jan. 29 letter from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the clergy congregation's letter said.

Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the step was taken to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members.

Posthumous baptisms by proxy have been a common practice for the Latter-day Saints -- commonly known as Mormons -- for more than a century, allowing the church's faithful to have their ancestors baptized into their faith so they may be united in the afterlife, said Mike Otterson, a spokesman in the church's Salt Lake City headquarters

Of note:

The letter is dated 10 days before Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 U.S. visit, during which he presided over an ecumenical prayer service attended by two Mormon leaders. It marked the first time Mormons had participated in a papal prayer service.

I don't think one need take their inclusion as any sort of endorsement. This was an ecumenical dialogue, not an inter-christian summit. Mormon baptism is invalid, which renders them non-christian.

update: Utah bishop responds to Vatican policy on Mormons (CWNews)

Photo Caption Call - 5/7/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

[Source: Flickr user "Leo Reynolds"]

The Pope's Visit: Satirical and Serious commentary

On the funny side, today's article by the Onion (a satirical newspaper):

In an unprecedented breach of national security, Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the international organization known as "the Roman Catholic Church," has infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. government and devised a wide-ranging plan to destroy the entire country.

... "We normally do not allow anyone to view top secret documents, but with the miter and the robe and everything, it was difficult to say no," said one Department of Energy official, who allowed Benedict to view plans for a proposed warhead delivery system, and detailed maps of the nation's nuclear power plants. "He said he wanted to bless the documents, which he did. Unfortunately, we now believe that the ring he wears is a miniaturized digital camera." (More)

On the substantive side, Donald Devine talks about the "Internationalist Pope":

Was Lou Dobbs right that “the pope is blasting our society; here he is, I guess, in many ways insulting our country, talking about the need to be welcoming, taking up the issue of illegal immigration without any comparison to the rest of the world?” Congressman Tom Tancredo criticized him too. Are conservatives right to be concerned about Benedict XVI’s “welcoming internationalism”?

... While he may have criticized the U.N.’s ruling body, it is clear Benedict thinks collective rather than nation-state action alone is necessary to promote a just world order. On the other hand, he also said that “Every State has the primary duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights, as well as from the consequences of humanitarian crises, whether natural or man-made.” So the nation-state comes first but “If States are unable to guarantee such protection, the international community must intervene with the juridical means provided in the United Nations Charter and in other international instruments.” (More)

There, hopefully that strikes a nice balance.

Developments on Lugo: contrite or obstinant?

The current president-elect of Paraguay is a suspended Catholic bishop. I blogged about the story here.

On Monday, he asked for pardon from Pope Benedict:

Fernando Lugo asked forgiveness particularly to Benedict XVI on Monday after having been elected Sunday as Paraguay's next president. "If my attitude and my disobedience of canon law caused sorrow, I sincerely ask forgiveness to the people of the Church. In particular, I ask pardon to Pope Benedict XVI," Lugo said on the radio channel Fe y Alegria (Faith and Joy). According to canon law, clerics cannot run for political offices.

Lugo told the radio station that he is ready to dialogue to find a "satisfactory solution" for himself and the Church. Sources in the Holy See confirmed that the unique situation is being studied, though time is needed. (Zenit)

Rocco reports that "other sources held out the possibility that the onetime provincial of the Divine Word Fathers could return to ministry following the end of his five-year term in office."

Unfortunately, things are not so simple. In Cardinal Re's words as quoted by Zenit:

Lugo was named a bishop in 1994. He had since asked Benedict XVI to be able to "renounce his ecclesial ministry […] to take up again the condition of a layperson in the Church."

The petition was not accepted because, as Cardinal Re noted, "the episcopacy is a service accepted freely forever."

If Lugo wants to return to ministry, he needs to give up his political office first. It's hard to argue that he is truly contrite and obedient to the discipline of Rome if he is only willing to give it up the presidency when it is taken from him by the next election process years down the road.

A little politics: North Carolina & Indiana (update)

update, 11:25pm: Obama has won North Carolina by about 14 points. Hillary is holding onto a 2 point lead, with 91% of the precincts reporting. Hillary might have to take a serious look at that result.

Not to intrude on what is otherwise a very pleasant spring day here in DC, but there are two Democractic primaries taking place today. Obama will win North Carolina by a wide margin it is predicted, and Zogby says he might manage to barely win Indiana as well.

Meanwhile, some on the ground are claiming that Republicans are crossing-over in Indiana to vote for Hillary and keep the race less defined, and Newt continues his calls for a radical, quick changes to the GOP.

Bottom line: If Obama wins both primaries today, things might move a little more in his favor, if he doesn't things remain, well, exactly where they started today. What progress.

Video: Call to Action's Closing Liturgy

Amy gives us the video (windows media player) from West Coast Call to Action's closing liturgy.

There's a good discussion at Amy's attempting to get deeper than the knee-jerk reactions to such fare.

If it wasn't a liturgical abuse of the Mass, I'd have found it a diversion from tonight's studying marathon.

Rome to Anglicans: Decide if you are Protestants or Catholics

A controversial story from UK blogger Damien Thompson:

The Vatican said last night that the time has come for the Anglican Church to choose between Protestantism and the ancient sacramental Churches of Rome and Orthodoxy.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, told the Catholic Herald that the Anglican Communion must “clarify its identity” and stop hovering between the Catholic and Protestant traditions.

... The cardinal [Kasper] is clearly hoping for some sort of breakthrough – or break-up? – at this summer’s Lambeth Conference, which already promises to be a spectacular disaster. But I don’t think we should jump to the conclusion that his views represent those of Pope Benedict.

An Anglican-Catholic reunion looked far more likely before Anglicans decided to start ordaining women, etc.

update: The story is picking up steam, Phil Lawler talks about it here.

Video: Cardinal Pell talks WYD and Text Messaging from the Pope

Ph/t: Pope2008 (which has more details):


Cool stuff, plenty to catch up on!

Papist Picture of the Day - 5/6/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

Jumping, Santiago had. Timing the jump for when the pope was looking at him?

Not so much.

[source: REUTERS/Chris Helgren (VATICAN)]

A maybe minor point regarding communion, jurisdiction, and bishops

First off, I read this headline:

"Archbishop Wuerl says politicians’ support for abortion is wrong"

... and thought to myself "well sure, but that's not what we're discussing here."

Abp. Wuerl's basic argument is that politicians should be denied communion (or not) based on the decision of that individual's home bishop, not the Archbishop of Washington where he is receiving.

I'm wondering if this jurisdictional argument holds any water. It is my (elementary) understanding that a Bishop is responsible not only for the spiritual welfare of his diocese, but also is responsible for the proper administration of the sacraments (and especially the Eucharist).

Remember, according to Church teaching (as I understand it), it is both damaging to the impenitent person to receive Communion in a state of mortal sin and it is a sacrilege of the Most Blessed Sacrament when an unworthy person receives. And while Abp. Wuerl might not be responsible for preventing the former, he is responsible for preventing the latter.

Ergo, he does have a say in the dilemma of publicly pro-abortion politicians receiving communion in DC.

Where am I wrong on this? I'd like to hear your input.

Prayers requested for the disaster in Myanmar

The Pope prayed for the victims today. Deaths from the recent cyclone could top 50-60,000:

• UK Times: Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000
• BBC News: Burmese storm toll 'tops 10,000'
• Sky News: Burma Cyclone Death Toll 'Hits 22,000'
• UK Daily Mail: 10,000 killed in ONE town as massive wave is blamed for death toll set to top 60,000

Sensationalist headlines and mounting figures aside, we should be praying sincerely for the victims.

update: and thanks, Al Gore, for blaming this disaster as a consequence of global warming.

Busy Blogger This Week

This week is final examinations for me, so blogging is taking place around studying for those, finishing up term papers, plus the normal employment obligations, so bear with me as I go heavy on the links and probably lighter on the commentary for the next few days. Thanks!

Papist Picture of the Day - 5/4/08

[For today's blog topics, click here.]

Obviously there is no height requirement for being a Vatican photographer.

[source: REUTERS/Chris Helgren]

AmP Movie Review: Iron Man

Iron Man is currently the most popular movie in America, and opened to rave reviews. Even Rotten Tomatoes (my go-to source for movies) gives it an unheard-of 93% rating.

With all the hype, I decided it was worth my time.

I loved it. It's probably one of the best (if not the best) adaptations of a comic book hero to the big screen. Not only does it provide the necessary explosions, gadgetry and comedic-interludes, but in many ways it transcends these normal showy accessories through the brilliant (awesome!) performance of Robert Downey Jr.

The "messages" of the movie are not particularly subtle, but they are very pertinent to and very needed in our modern age. Plus they are artistically integrated into the lives and decisions of the characters.

I would recommend seeing it, if you can afford the prohibitive theater fees. There is one brief scene of some rather passionate intimacy, so parents might want to screen it for their younger kids first.

AmP Rating: 8/10.

Awesome Procession Pic (+other things liturgical)

Shawn Tribe at New Liturgical Movement gives us something else to rejoice and wonder at:

In second place, this picture from the Chartres pilgrimage (which I narrowly missed attending when I was in Europe the summer of 2003).

Also see the breathtaking photopost on English rood screens.

update: and for good measure, Damian Thompson on the Latin Mass in England:

...Interestingly, [a Cardinal] added that the Pope wants this Mass to become normal in parishes, so that ‘young communities can also become familiar with this rite’.”

[Damian Thompson:] "The idea of young people discovering the ancient Mass, said entirely in Latin with zero opportunity for congregational showing-off, will truly horrify with-it bishops and their Sandalista worship leaders. And what will Bobbie (“Cry me a river”) Mickens have to say?

I do wonder, however, whether the Pope realises that if he wants the classical Mass celebrated widely in this country he will have to make one extra provision. New bishops. Lots of them. And fast."

Des Moines Register knows who to quote on matters canonical

In this case, my father (come to think of it, in all canonical cases he's the guy to quote):

The Catholic Church's decision to grant Steven Sueppel a funeral at St. Mary's Church after he killed his wife and four children on Easter night has left behind an emotional debate among Iowa City-area Catholics and Catholic scholars.

Edward Peters, a professor of Catholic doctrine, or canon law, at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, says Sueppel should not have been given a Catholic funeral.

Sueppel would be what canon law calls a "manifest sinner" because he murdered his wife and four young children before killing himself, Peters said.

He said his interpretation of canon law leads him to conclude that Sueppel should not have been granted a Catholic funeral because doing so creates a "scandal for the faithful."

Of course, canon law is not equivalent to "Catholic Doctrine", as the article claims.

Save yourself from this and other mistakes by adding Dr. Peter's canonlawblog to your blogroll today!

Pope Meets with Head of Anglican Communion, Lambeth on the minutes

Today Pope Benedict held a private meeting with Dr. Rowan Williams (see a picture here), and Vatican Radio snagged a quick pre-interview:

Dr Williams is in Rome this week for the 7th 'Building Bridges' seminar of Christian and Muslim scholars to be held this year at the English college retreat house 'Palazzola' overlooking Lake Albano in the Roman Hills.

On his way to the Vatican he told Philippa Hitchen what he hoped to discuss the Pope:

"Well it’ll be a fairly informal and low key meeting: I hope to bring him up to date on our plans about the Lambeth conference, perhaps to discuss with him a little what’s going to be happening at the conference this week at Palazzola and just touch base with him about China, the initiatives we’re involved in with regard to the churches in China.

... The full length interview with Dr. Williams is available on our English Feature Programme.

Lambeth, eh?

Event: Arlington, VA Readers Take Note!

Emailed to me by a Dominican priest:

One of our brightest young Dominicans is featured tonight at Arlington's Theology on Tap. Br. Thomas Joseph White, a good friend and an insightful theologian (and soon-to-be priest!) will be speaking on "Did Jesus Know He was God?".

I am planning to go with him to root him on. I think he'll be getting there around 6:30; I'll probably arrive about 7pm. I think the plan is to eat dinner there starting before the talk, and then to hang out for a beer or two afterwards. I hope you can make it!

Dominicans and pints. Good times! Details: Monday, May 5, 2008 // Talk 7:30 p.m., followed by Q&A at 8p.m. // Come for food and drink before. // Pat Troy's in Alexandria //111 North Pitt Street; Alexandria, VA.

Pope Benedict plans Australian holiday prior to WYD

Sharp-eyed readers noted on this post that Pope Benedict will actually be in Australia a few days before he is scheduled to publicly appear at the 2008 World Youth Day activities in Sydney.

Now we know why - looks like he wants to make sure he's rested and ready for the youth:

Pope Benedict XVI will holiday at a secret location in Australia before World Youth Day in Sydney in July, event organisers said Friday.

Sydney Archbishop George Pell said the pope would arrive in Australia on July 13 and leave on July 21, taking three days vacation before attending World Youth Day.
Event organisers said the 81-year-old pontiff "has decided to spend several days preparing for his encounter with young people" following the lengthy flight to Australia from Rome.

"The trip to Australia will be the longest journey t